Ek Duje Ke Vaaste

9

The next day, the newspaper read that the License of Advocate Verma has been cancelled because of some unlawful activities happening at his end.
Sumo knew who was behind this and she directly went to his office to thank him.

Their bond was seeing new colours and getting better but it was just peace before the storm.

----

The next few days went with them being busy with their respective works. They did meet now and then but didn't really get to hang out together. Shravan reminded Sumo of the letter every time they met and she would just change the topic with visible shyness on her face. Shravan would love this colour she reflected and tried to tease or push her even more to show the letter.

One day when Sumo was in PCT, her phone gave a text notification. She quickly ran to her phone to see if Shravan had texted her.
But to her surprise or to say shock, it wasn't him but Nirmala Ahuja, his mother who was an enemy to his eyes.

"Hello, Suman beta! Kaisi ho?"
Message read.

"Hello Aunty, main theek hoon, aap kaisi hain?"
She replied.

"Main bhi acchi hoon beta. Main 2 din baad Delhi aa rahi hoon business trip par for a week. Tumse aur Tiwari ji se mile bina toh wapas aa nahi sakti isliye keep yourself free, okay?"

Sumo stood still reading that. Her mixed emotions were playing with her in her head and she knew she was anxious.

"Suman?"
Message read.

"Ji aunty, of course. When are you coming?"

"Arey, kahan dhyaan hai tumhara, abhi toh bataya 2 din baad. Is everything okay beta?"

"Ji, haan, bilkul. Bas ek choti si baat hai that Shravan is in town."

5 minutes went by without any reply.

Sensing that Nirmala got emotional, Sumo called her up.

"Hell..hello beta."

"Aunty, are you okay?"

"Haan haan beta, everything's fine."
Nirmala replied with muffled sobs.

"Aunty please mat roiye, main jaanti hoon aap Shravan se kitna pyaar karti hain aur usee milne ke liye har din tadapti hain, I wish main aapko usse mila paati"

"Nahi Suman, I know wo mujhse milna nahi chahta, Ramnath ne hamare beech jo deewarein khadi kar di hain, wo itni aasani se tut nahi sakti"

"Aunty..."

"It's okay baccha, I'll not come meet you okay? You don't worry."

"Arey nahi Aunty, aap aaiyega, I'll manage something, Nanu ko bhi accha lagega."

"Are you sure?"

"Ji, Aunty."

After being assured by Sumo, Nirmala agreed to come to her house, they had their chit-chat and cut the call.

2 days went in a swift. She involved Pushkar in her plan to keep Shravan away from Tiwari Killa the day when Nirmala was going to arrive without telling him about Nirmala as he also belonged to Malhotra clan.

Everything was going smoothly and Pushkar took Shravan to outside the city on the pretext of meeting a client.
Meanwhile, Nirmala entered Tiwari Killa and met everyone.
Nana ji wanted her to meet Shravan at least once but after her constant denial, he let her be.
Sumo took care of her like her own mother, after all, she was the only person who could make her feel like a daughter.
The day was going smoothly and it was almost evening.
Pushkar was trying too hard to keep Shravan away from the city itself but what could he have done after everything as the meeting had ended 5 hours ago and he was just throwing random things as going to the game parlour at the mall, sitting at the cafeteria etc.  at him.